Read Online Black List by Will Jordan - Free Book Online Page B

flats, and somehow he doubted they’d let him in. ‘Not on this floor.’
    ‘Then go up,’ she said, speaking with that same controlled, measured voice. ‘To the roof. Hurry.’
    Alex was too frightened to question or protest. Doing his best to get more air in his lungs, he rushed up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Already the muscles in his legs were burning with the exertion, but he did his best to ignore it, concentrating only on putting more distance between himself and his pursuers.
    The buzz of the door below told him the police had made entry. It wouldn’t take them long to figure out where he was heading.
    His breath coming in painful gasps, he halted as he reached a security door at the very top of the stairwell, its bright yellow sign announcing that it was alarmed and to be used in emergencies only.
    ‘I’m here, but there’s an alarm on the door,’ he whispered.
    ‘Then you’ll have to move fast,’ she advised. ‘There should be a fire escape on one side of the roof. Find it and use it to get down to the street.’
    Alex closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. Easy for her to say.
    Wasting no more time, he shoved the door release bar and threw it open, rushing out onto the roof. As he’d expected, it was cluttered with TV aerials, satellite dishes and all kinds of vents and fans whose purpose he didn’t understand.
    The rain was still falling steadily, having graduated from fine mist to heavy droplets that quickly soaked through his clothes. As the security alarm started wailing behind him, he looked around, desperately searching for the fire escape that would lead him back downstairs.
    Sure enough, a retractable ladder was fixed to the edge of the roof opposite. Sprinting over, he shoved the phone into his pocket and bent down to inspect the device, trying to ignore the sickening feeling of vertigo that the sixty-foot drop provoked in him.
    The ladder was set into metal runners drilled into the side of the building, and held in place by a simple mechanical latch. One good pull should be enough to release it, sending it all the way down to street level. The climb down wasn’t going to be fun, but even for Alex it was better than the alternative.
    Reaching out, he grabbed the release handle and pulled.
    Nothing happened.
    Gritting his teeth, he braced one foot against the wall and pulled again, harder this time, his untested muscles straining with the effort. Still the latch remained stubbornly fixed in place.
    ‘Come on, you bastard!’ he yelled, booting it in frustration. ‘Why won’t you fucking move?’
    The gritty rasp of corroded hinges provided its own answer. Years of exposure to wind and rain must have corroded its mechanism, rusting it firmly in place. Freeing it would take more time and strength than he had at his disposal.
    ‘Fuck!’
    Breathing hard from his exertions and sweating despite the rain’s onslaught, Alex turned away and pulled the phone out of his pocket. The line was still active.
    ‘The ladder won’t move,’ he said, now struggling to keep the panic from his voice. He was acutely aware that every second he remained up here increased his chances of being caught. ‘It’s rusted solid. I can’t release it.’
    He heard a muffled comment on the other end that he was sure was less than complimentary. To her credit, the woman quickly regained her composure.
    ‘Then you have to jump to the next building,’ she decided.
    ‘What!’
    ‘Another apartment block backs onto that one,’ she explained, her knowledge of his local area disconcertingly accurate. ‘The alley that runs between them can’t be more than seven or eight feet wide. Jump to the opposite roof, and use their stairwell to get down to the street.’
    As she was speaking, Alex crept over to the edge of the roof, surveying the gap between his building and the next. As she had said, the distance between the two apartment blocks wasn’t much – probably not even wide enough to drive a